Nonrun fabric and method of making the same



July 30, 1940. STEVENSON Er AL 2.209.360

NONRUN FABRIC AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Fil ed Aug. 2 1959' '2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS FRAnK STEVENSON BY Cumuzs Aficon" ATTORNEY Patented July 30, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NONRUN FABRIC AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME" Application August 26,

5 Claims.

Our invention relates to a new and useful non- ,run fabric and the method of making thesame whereby articles of apparel such as stockings can be made of substantially runor ladder-proof fabric without detracting from the appearance of the fabric.

Ladies full fashioned hosiery has, until a few yea-rs ago, been made practically exclusively of plain stitches (except for ornamental stockings embodying lace or other mesh design). Such stockings, while satisfactory in other respects, were nevertheless very expensive from the standpoint of wear since the break of any one stitch resulted in the formation of a run or ladder all the way up and down the stocking which necessitated the discarding of the stocking. In recent years various attempts have beenmade to produce a stocking fabric embodying'spread and .knotted stitches judicially distributed walewise and coursewise of the fabric, said knotted stitches being calculated to prevent a run or ladder made by a break in the thread of the stocking from extending beyond or past a knotted and spread stitch in the wale in which the break occurs. Various types of spread and knotted stitches have been used, such as are illustrated in the, Graenz Patent No. 2,066,682 of January 5, 1937, the publication by Willkomm entitled Technology of Framework Knitting," and other patents and publications. However, the use of any one of the spread and knotted stitches referred to, and the others which are not herein specifically men tioned, resulted in a fabric having relatively large openings therein thus giving to the fabric a lace or open-mesh appearance which is desirable when a woman wishes to wear a stocking of that type but which is objectionable where a plainappearing stocking is desired. Indeed, because of the relatively large openings produced by the spreading and knotting of certain stitches, it has been the practice greatly to economize in the number of spread and knotted stitches used, by spreading and knotting every third or fourth stitch in every third or fourth course. This resulted in producing a fabric which was not sumciently run-resisting due to the fact that if a break occurred the ladder or run would extend three or four courses until it reached a spread and knotted stitch. If every other stitch of eve y plain course, or every other stitch in every other course, were spread and knotted, the run-resisting character of the fabric is increased, but, by the same token, its lacy or open-mesh appearance is accordingly increased. a

It is therefore the object of our invention to 1939, Serial No. 292,038

produce a novel, run-resisting fabric and a novel method of making the same whereby the laceor open-mesh effect produced by the spreading and knotting of chosen stitches is very greatly minimized without correspondingly decreasing the number of spread and knotted stitches used, thereby producing a fabric which is substantially completely run-resisting at every point and at the same time imparting to the fabric an appearance very closely simulating the appearance of a plain or close-knit fa'bric such as that presented by a stocking knit throughout of the ordinary plain stitch.

The structure of the fabric embodying our invention, as well as the novel method for knitting the same, will be more clearly understood from the following specification and the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 representsa plan view of a portion of run-resisting fabric knit according to the conventional methods now in use such as the method disclosed in the publication by Willkomm and m which a certain predetermined number of stitches have been spread and lmotted.

Fig. 2 represents a fabric knit on the same ma-. chine, having the same number of spread and knotted stitches, and representing the fabric as it would appear if the knitting were varied from the conventional enough to embody only part of our novel method and structure.

Fig. 3 represents a fabric knit on the same ma chine and having the same number of spread and knotted stitches as the fabric shown in Figs. 1 and 2 'but knit'completely according to our novel method.

Fig. 4 represents, on an enlarged scale, and in a line drawing form, the method of knitting our novel fabric which presents the finished appearance shown in Fig. 3.

In the knitting of theconventional run-resisting fabric, plain'stitch courses are formed and the desired number of stitches of said courses are lifted off their respective needles by any suitable -mecham-sm such as the shifting point covered in the Stevenson Patent No. 1,891,117, saidstitches being spread and deposited on adjacent needles s'o" that half of the stitch which is spread remains on its original needle and the other half of the stitch is placed on an adjacent needle which already has a stitch on it. In this way the needle, the stitch of which has been spread, carries half of a loop and the adjacent needle will carry one. and one-half loops. A fabric so constructed will appear as shown in Fig. l in that relatively large openings 6 of a generally oval shape are formed and .the wales 8 of the fabric are correspondingly. and uniformly distorted.

. In order to overcome this disadvantage we have developed our novel method which is best described as follows:

On the needles I is knit a course A of plain stitches l2 which may either form a marginal border or such course or courses A may be taken up inthe selvedge or otherwise. Hanging from the plain course A is a course B which also is formed of initially plain. stitches l4, l5 and IS. The loops I 6, which may be every second, third or fourth stitch, etc., in the course, are then picked up by the shifting point and spread to the left and simultaneously the loops .H and IS on each side of the spread stitch 16 are picked up.

by conventional shifting points, known as lace v or narrowing points, and. shifted over one needle to the left with the loops I5 placed over the remaining halves of the loops iii. In this way the half of the loop l6 which has been spread onto the adjacent needle to the left is carried by a needle which has no stitch on it at all since the stitch It on that needle has also been shifted to the left onto an adjacent needle. The next courseC is then knit-and all the stitches thereof are shifted to the right, without spreading and knotting any of its stitches. The next course D will be a repetition of the course B except that the spread and knotted stitches l8 thereof are,

staggered, walewise with respect to the spread and knotted stitches l6 of the course B. The course E is again formed of plain knit stitches which are shifted to the right the same as the course C and the course F will be a repetition of the courses 3 and D except that the spread and knotted stitches 20 thereof are also staggered, walewise, withrespect to the'spread and knotted stitches l6 and I8. As shown in Fig. 4 the distribution of the spread and knotted stitches l6, l8 and 20 is such that one of these stitches will appear in each wale every second course so that any break occurring at any point of the stocking would only run through one plain course or until it reaches one of the spread and knotted stitches. While we have shown the spread and knotted stitches l6, l8 and 20 in each course as being separated by three plain stitches in the same course,and while we have shown the interposition of single all-plain stitch courses C and E between the courses B and D in which certain loops are spread and knotted, it is to be understood that this is only for the purpose of illustration and that the number of stitches spread and knotted, or the number of plain courses intervening between courses in which certain loops are spread and knotted, canbe varied at will.

If the plain loops of the courses arealways shifted in one direction, that is, one needle to the left or one needle to the right throughout, the fabric will appear as shown in Fig. 2 in which the holes 6a produced by. the spreading and knotting of the stitches are reduced somewhat in 5 size, but in which the'wales la of the fabric will run in a pronounced diagonal direction.

This imparts to the fabric an undesirable appearance, and, in any event, thesize of the holes 6a is not reduced to a minimum. By alternately 7o shifting one course to the left and one course to the right, regardless of whether such courses do or do not embody spread and knotted stitches,

wehave found that the holes arestill further reduced in size as shown at b and that the wales are nearer being straight up and down as shown at 81) in Fig. 3 than they are in ,the fabric shown in Fig. 2 in which the shifting of all of the courses was done uniformly in one direction. The shifting alternately in opposite directions of the successive courses has a tendency 5 of drawing up orclosing the spread and knotted stitches l6, l8 and 20 thus minimizing the openings produced thereby and at the same time it tends to compensate for the distortion of the wales which results from the spreading of pre- 10 determined stitches in the conventional way.

Figs. 1, 2 and 3represent the portions of the rwpective fabrics described with the arrows pointing to the top of the stocking as actually worn, and, by comparison, it will be seen that 15 the holes 6 of Fig. 1 are by far larger than the holes 61: and that the wales 8 of Fig. 1, while perhaps not more distorted than the wales 8a of Fig. 2, are nevertheless very much more pronounced. Also by comparison it is clearly ap- 2o parent that the holes Ga of Fig. 2, which shows the fabric knit with all the stitches uniformly shifted in one direction throughout the fabric, aremuch bigger than the holes 6b of the fabric of Fig. 3 which is knit completely according 5 ,to our method which calls for' shifting the stitches in the opposite direction in alternate courses. It will also be seen that the wales 8b of Fig. 8 are less pronounced than the wales 8 of Fig. l and the wales 8a of Fig. 2- and are also 30 1 more nearly vertically disposed than the wales 8a and 8. When it is remembered that the fabrics of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 were knit on the same machine, of the same yarn, and with the same number of spread and knotted stitches, and if 35 Fig. 2 is discarded for a moment and the fabric of Fig. 3 is compared directly with the fabric of Fig. 1, it will be obvious that the fabric knit according to our method presents a very different appearance and texture from the fabric shown in Fig. 1 and that it is closer to the plain knit fabric than it is to an open-mesh or lacy fabric.

Having explained the structure of our spread and knotted stitch and the method of forming it 45 and since the shifting point used in carrying out the method is also described in the Stevenson patent above mentioned, and since shifting of all of the stitches of any given course in either direction can also be practiced by those skilled 50 in the art on standard full fashioned knitting machines now available, it is deemed unnecessary to encumber this application with illustration or description of the mechanical parts or operations referred to. 5

It is also to be noted that while in Fig. 4 we have shown the spread and knotted stitches l6,

Y I8 and 20 as being interspersed with three plain vknit stitches in each course, and while we have shown certain courses as being formed through-, out of plain stitches, it is to be understood that Y the essence of our invention resides, not in the particular arrangement shown since that can be varied, but in the combination of spread and knotted stitches strategically distributed throughout a fabric the courses of which, whether they embody any spread and knotted stitches or not,

are shifted alternately in opposite directions.

While we have shown and described our novel method and fabric-in connection with its adapta- 7 ability to the manufacture of hosiery, it will be appreciated that our novel method is applicable to the production of any knitted fabric to be used for other purposes and in which run-resisting characteristics are desired or necessary.

While in the disclosure we have shown all of the stitches of each course, whether such course embodies any interlocked stitches or not as being cases where the spread and interlocked stitches appear in only-every third or fourth course, or

- more, it may not be necessary to shift all of the intermediate all-plain stitch courses. It is within the scope of our invention to shift in opposite directions only the courses immediately preceding or succeeeding a course whichembodies spread and interlocked stitches. Since this involves no more than a corresponding adjustment of the machine which can be effected by those skilled in the art, it is not believed necessary .to illustrate this method of knitting or form of fabric by additional drawings, but we want it understood that these and other variations hereinabove pointed out are to be included within the scope of our claims.

The alternate shifting of the stitches in succeeding courses in opposite directions, not only tends bodily or physically, so to speak, to close the relatively large opening left by the spreading and locking of the stitches It, It and 20, but also serves to pull the thread of the spread and knotted stitches back in the direction of its normal position or in a direction opposite to the direction in which it was spread thus relieving tautness and returning to the stitch that was spread and locked at least a major part of its original elasticity. Furthermore, when the stitches I8, l8 and 20 are spread in the conventional fabric, there is a taut engagement between their thread and the thread of the stitch with which they were locked and it is well known that if two threads are pressed taut against one another the tendency to break is greatly increased and that if the threads are interengaged in a relatively loose manner the danger of breakage is correspondingly decreased.

While in Fig. 4 of the drawings we have only shown a few courses of fabric which generally illustrate the manner of walewise staggering of the spread and locked stitches l6, l8 and 20, it is to be understood that the distribution of the spread and locked stitches is such that there is at least one spread and locked stitch in each wale and in every third course, it being understood that it is within the scope of our invention to spread and interlock stitches in such a manner that there will be one spread and interlocked stitch.

greatly minimized, whereby the wales are straightened vertically considered, and whereby the original elasticity of the knit fabric is to a great extent retained.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

- 1. The method of knitting a run-resisting fabric which consists in knitting a course of plain stitches, spreading certain of said stitches in one direction and hanging portions thereof on ad-- acent needles and simultaneously shifting the remaining stitches of said course in the same direction from the needles on which they were originally formed onto adjacent needles.

2. The method of knitting a run-resisting fabric which consists in knitting a course of plain stitches, spreading certain of said stitches in one direction and hanging portions thereof on adjacent needles and shifting the remaining stitches of said course in the same direction from the needles on which they were originally formed onto adjacent needles.

3. The method of knitting a run-resisting fabric which consists in forming a course of plain stitches, spreading certain of the stitches of said course in one direction and han portions thereof on adjacent needles, shifting the remaining stitches of said course in the same direction from the needles on which they were originally formed onto adjacentneedles, forming a second course of plain stitches and shifting the stitches of said second course from the needles on which they were originally formed onto adjacent needles 5. A. run-resisting knit fabric comprising a plurality of wales and courses, certain of said courses including stitches having portions thereof spread over adjacent wales, the remaining unspread stitches on each side of the spread stitches being shifted a distance of one wale in the same direction in which said first mentioned stitches were spread, whereby the unspread portion of each spread stitch is overlapped by an adjacent stitch in the same course, all of the stitches of the fabric except the spread stitches being shifted a distance of one wale, the stitches being shifted in opposite directions in adjacent courses.

, FRANK STEVENSON. CHARLES A. SCOT'I. 

